Long Calls (Bullish Options Strategy)

The Long Calls strategy is the most basic options strategy and it involves the buying of Call
options - at an appropriate strike price and of an appropriate expiration term.

A Call buyer almost always possesses a bullish bias towards near term action on the underlying asset. Often, s/he also desires an expansion, or at least stability, in the level of implied volatility on the relevant options.

While a bullishly biased trader (and possibly even a trader with a neutral bias) can finesse his/her level of aggression in the trade by choosing calls that possess a preferred state of moneyness, a bearishly biased trader will not find much use for this strategy.

Read more... by Asher Pinto

Negative Divergence on Weekly MACD

(9/20/10) We are initiating a new 'Chart In Focus,' today.

The markets have had a good run, over the past couple of weeks. The Nasdaq-100 and the S&P-500 have even broken out of inverted head & shoulders patterns that are calling for a continuation in the rally; the patterns call for a further gain of 10% or so on the indices.

However, nothing comes easy it seems. As the markets have rallied, the upper Bollinger bands on the weekly charts have slowly but surely started to fall. The rate of descent has been rather rapid, so much so that the indices are now confronted with the bands.. 

Read More... by Asher Pinto

Upper Bollinger Band (Weekly Chart) Set to Challenge Bullish Trend As the markets have rallied, the upper Bollinger bands on the weekly charts have slowly but surely started to fall....

The Four-headed Monster, Called 'Technical Analysis' In this 4-part series we briefly describe the benefits of using technical analysis in investment decision making. A case study format is utilized...

"Seeing the 'Volatility Terrain' with Overlaid Bollinger Bands" In my readings this weekend, I came across a very interesting article at StockCharts Blogs...

Major Sell Signal Complete: Negative Divergence on Weekly MACD Just over a month ago, it had looked like the negative divergence on MACD on the weekly chart of SPX, may have been on the verge of becoming defunct...

Bears Beware: Gaps Filled Here's an important development for short-term traders to take note of. The up-gaps that had been left at the open on Monday, May 10th, have been filled as of this morning...

Nasdaq-100 Opens Gap The markets opened with big gains today, following a big news event over the weekend. The chart of the Nasdaq-100 shows a pretty big gap...

Model Portfolio Up 100% in 18 months The past 18 months have been amongst the most challenging in recent memory. However, our model portfolio...

Go to blog... by Asher Pinto